


Behind the Mask

by zerxes96



Category: Danny Phantom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 12:05:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7844233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zerxes96/pseuds/zerxes96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'm only 'Dani' because I was the first clone that was self-aware, to make me feel like I meant something to him: to keep me loyal."</p><p>Dani and Valerie bonding (platonic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"What's your _real_ name?" It felt weird that I knew almost nothing about the half-ghost I risked my life trying to save two months prior.

Dani looked on to me, her eyebrows netted in confusion.

I remembered the first time we met. She was melting. I could tell she had a complicated past, and that this was going to be an emotional conversation. I mustered up a slight smile and chuckled. "I mean, there's no way you and Phantom _really_ have the same name, right?"

"I'm a lab experiment gone wrong." One look at my face was all Dani needed to realize I wasn't sure what she meant. "Plasmius created me trying to make a second Danny. I'm only _Dani_ because I was the first clone that was self-aware." Her voice started to falter as tears built up around her eyes. "To make me feel like I meant something to him so I would follow him without questioning him."

My eyes widened. _This girl..._

I looked off into the distance at the modern landscape looming below us. A lot had changed since that run-in with Vlad. The bank had been integrated into the repair shop across the street, and there was a communication tower where the old bank once stood. All the trees that had adorned the water facility across the street were cut down.

I knew what it was like to grow up without a mother, but I at least had a loving father. A father who didn't abandon me, even after finding out I'd been risking my life hunting ghosts behind his back.

Dani didn't have that. Being labeled a failure the moment you're born? Plasmius was a one crazed-up fruit loop. I turned back to the half ghost floating beside me. I started to wonder how many more _"_ Dani's" there were cast out in the world, all their energy being sapped away by the simple need of staying alive.

Come to think of it, the only time I saw Phantom was when he was fighting another ghost. I wondered if _he_ had any secrets or things he'd wanted to tell me, but couldn't because I shot first and asked questions never.

_There has to be something I can do to get Dani more in touch with her human side._

I reached into my backpack and pulled out a piece of origami. "Here."

Dani looked at the tripod-shaped paper in her hands like it was a ghost...or I guess alien would be the next step up for her. "What...?"

"That's my birthday present to you. It's origami. My dad taught me how to make it when I was your age. Not really sure what ghost gals like, so..."

I pressed into the center of the paper tripod causing it to cave in, turning it into a triangular base with three pyramids propping it up.

Dani's face turned bright red and looked away in an attempt to hide it. "Today's not my birthday. I don't know when my birthday is," she stammered.

"It's today."

"Says who?"

"Says me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Dani and Valerie fun (platonic)

Two on one. We had a good chance.

We were on a hill: the last patch of nature left in Amity Park after Vlad's "Modernization Movement." I'd pleaded with my dad around a week before to convince Vlad to leave it be. He eventually gave in and told Vlad that it was so close to Elmerton that the local government would feel threatened and shut him down, anyway.

The grass danced across my kneecaps like needles, or at least I _hoped_ that was grass...

In front of me was an open field enclosed by a circle of trees: where Dani and I were hiding separated.

I'd almost fallen asleep after remaining hidden for nearly fifteen minutes. The heat wasn't particularly oppressive, but every passing minute in it had done its part in piquing my fatigue. _I_ _t can't hurt to let my guard down a little._ I turned away and leaned back against the boulder I'd been peeking out from behind.

My eyes shot open to the sound of feet crushing leaves. A short sigh escaped my mouth.

I couldn't see my attacker approaching me from above, but could tell by the rhythm of their steps that they weren't about to lie down next to me and embrace the warmth of the sun. The moment I could see a patch of their black hair through my peripheral vision, I back-flipped over the rock and her and put up two finger guns. "Bam! Bam!"

It must've been quite a shock, because she fell backwards and landed on her butt.

I couldn't see Dani's face because her back was to me, but I imagined her wide-eyed and open-mouthed, like a child who'd just been told their older sibling had eaten the last chocolate pudding cup.

Before either of us could say anything, a shift in the open field stole both of our attentions. Our target glanced at the two of us, and ran behind one of the trees.

"I told you to create a diversion while I attacked," accused Dani, getting back up on her feet. "What good is a distraction _after_?"

We'd been trying to corner a rabbit for the last two hours, following it all the way from Elmerton to here. Dani almost had it trapped, but it got away after she'd lost her focus when I mistook her for the rabbit.

I lowered my weapons. "You never told me when you were going to strike! I was waiting for a signal, or something."

Dani just shock her head. "Honestly, the fact _you're_ one of the world's greatest ghost hunters boggles my mind."

I opened my mouth to retort, but decided mid-breath against it. Anything I said would just have been taken as an excuse.

Retort or not, a smirk peeked out from the side of Dani's lips.

There was rustling in the grass down the path I'd just taken. It didn't sound like human footsteps; it sounded like slithering. _Crap._ A snake. It was more after the Dani than myself, like it knew she'd put up less of a fight.

 _No one is dying unless I say so._ I slashed my hand in front of Dani and latched onto the snake's head. I'd never seen a snake before, so I didn't know what to do next. I threw it across the field in panic, expecting it to come lounging at us once more; it just slithered away.

"Thanks, Val, but you know snake bites don't affect me." Dani's voice had a hint of ridicule in it. She'd changed to her ghost form.

I'd actually forgotten. Around a month ago, Ghost Defense lessons were added into the Casper High curriculum. One of the lessons was on ghost anatomy. The ectoplasm coursing through Dani's veins helped fight off poison.

I flinched at the realization. That entire time, it didn't once occur to me that I was goofing off with a ghost.

My face probably turned red from the embarrassment: I could definitely feel the blood tightening my nose. I wondered if this is how Danny felt on the first day of Ghost Defense class.

Maybe all ghosts aren't that bad? I almost had myself convinced, until my eyes fixated on the stylized "D" on Dani's top. So long as I wasn't having tea with Phantom. I still couldn't bring myself to forgive him for ruining my life.

A moment of silence later, the slithering returned. The slight breeze carried a rabbit's cry. Dani and I frantically looked around to see the snake slithering away into the forest, a big lump in its throat. The rabbit was nowhere to be found.


End file.
